Item from today's paper:

A study released yesterday found an unusually heavy meal roughly quadruples the ordinary risk of heart attach during the two hours after eating. Most at risk are those with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other heart-related conditions. The theory is a big meal might trigger the release of hormones which put stress on the heart, or it could increase the blood's tendancy to clot. Hey, be careful out there.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 15, 2000

Answers

Does this mean we can't go to hoot's for T'giving?

-- ruth in s.e.IL (bobtravous@email.com), November 15, 2000.

Ken, I read someplace that the highest percentage of heart attacks occurs on Monday morning. Lots of people binge on high-fat foods, supposedly. I saw a video of a bypass, you would not believe what that "plug" of fat looked like as they slid it out of this guys heart. The video also showed a vial of blood taken from a guy who had recently eaten a fast-food cheeseburger, fries and shake. The fat actually rose to the top of the vial of blood!!!

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), November 15, 2000.

The fat from your last meal peaks within 12 hours after eating it, the fat actually makes your blood look like sludge, thick and disgusting! A good friend of ours suffered a massive stroke, and later died, within 24 hours of chowing down on a pound's worth of hamburger, and it was home raised beef, so it wasn't the chemicals in it that killed, it was the fat! Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 15, 2000.

Annie, I would be interested to know what your friend ate *with* the hamburger -- a high sugar/carbohydrate meal combined *with* fat is dangerous because of what the sugar does to your body chemistry. Dietary fat on it's own is a fairly inert substance, and doesn't usually build up or stay in the system. Fat within the body primarily comes from over-consumption of carbohydrates, which triggers the body to manufacture and store fat. The bad types of cholesterol that cause heart attacks are also manufactured in response to excessive carbs in the diet. The media has been telling us that fat is bad for so long that we've come to believe it, but we need to get the whole story before we blame one particular item in a meal.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 15, 2000.

Kathleen, ask any cardiologist, it's the fat. Even if meat is the only item eaten, within 2 hours of eating a high fat meal, your blood becomes very thick, and sludge like, more prone to clogging up, and raises your risk of heart attack or stroke. If you don't believe it, check it out yourself, eat a meal that is better than 40%-50% total fat, then in a few hours, have a total cholesterol check done, you should be able to see the fat in your blood rise to the top of the vial like grease in gravy. Low total cholesterol (around 150) is proven to eliminate, and even reverse heart disease of all types, I find that item proof enough. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 15, 2000.

Kathleen, what is the title of the book (and author) that you get info from? Thanks.

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), November 15, 2000.

If you really want to see what fat looks like watch an autopsy on an obease person. Whoa! Saw a post on a big guy once. The fat under his skin looked like a 6" or 8" blanket of yellow fiber glass insulation!! Big large pockets, I mean BIG, around his organs, and anywhere there was a room. I used that image to motivate me for years not to get a gut. Worked till the last couple a years. John

-- John in S IN (jsmengel@hotmail.com), November 16, 2000.